


Something Wonderful

by UbiquitousMixie



Category: The Closer
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-07
Updated: 2012-02-07
Packaged: 2017-10-30 18:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/334873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UbiquitousMixie/pseuds/UbiquitousMixie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: falling</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Wonderful

Brenda can’t remember the last time she’s felt this free. It’s almost surreal, given how much she hates running, hates the exhaustion that comes with pushing her body past its typical limits, hates the feeling of sweaty spandex clinging to her body. But right now, after three miles, she feels _exhilarated_. She so rarely feels like a whole person when she’s just Brenda Leigh and not Deputy Chief Johnson, so she grasps onto this feeling with both hands, enjoying it for as long as it lasts. She may not make it the full 10k and she may see most of her fellow runners pass her by and she may be unable to move for a week, but in this moment, Brenda feels deliciously, intoxicatingly, wondrously _alive_.

She looks at the woman running in time beside her, her smile radiant when she notices that she is, in fact, still there. It’s not that she’s forgotten that Sharon Raydor is her running mate; on the contrary, she remembers months of training and knows those long, lean legs are capable of outrunning her with ease. The old Sharon, the one she loathed and admired in equal amounts—the one who wasn’t her closest friend—would have sprinted ahead and gloated when Brenda finally straggled across the finish line. She’s not that person anymore, and Brenda certainly isn’t the same woman who would goad the captain and harass her for the fun of it. 

Their footfalls are completely in sync, pounding steadily against the pavement in perfect rhythm. Having Sharon there to share this blissful moment means more to Brenda than she could ever hope to convey with any coherence. It’s so much more than just having someone to keep her company. She’d felt so helpless when her father had been diagnosed with cancer, so angry and confused and alone. She’d visited him as often as she could, taking more than her allotment of personal leave to be there with him until she was sure he was on his feet. But even after she’d returned to Los Angeles and the never-ending demands of her job, she still felt like she hadn’t done enough. 

She’d eagerly signed up for the first marathon that would benefit cancer research, secretly hoping that this small sacrifice would pay some unspoken debt that would keep Clay Johnson in remission. Brenda had been one of the lucky ones and felt that it was her duty to run for those who weren’t has fortunate. (When she told her father that she’d signed up, he laughed and suggested that she’d make it as far as the closest crime scene; she was determined to make him proud and would finish this race for both of them.)

Brenda had been stunned when Sharon had agreed to do the marathon with her. She’d expected the other woman’s support and had been touched to receive her wisdom and experience and motivational tactics; it had been more than Brenda could have ever hoped for. She knew that Sharon’s mother had died of pancreatic cancer, but she also knew that Sharon’s willingness to accompany her was about more than her own personal connection to the disease. There is an unspoken, unwavering solidarity between them, and for that Brenda is undeniably grateful.

Now, majestic, red-faced, and slick with perspiration, Sharon is a vision. She’s become a source of strength for Brenda, a beacon of light in an otherwise rather bland period of her life. Even after Fritz had gone and Brenda was alone, Sharon had stepped in and filled the void until Brenda realized that Sharon was, after all, what had been missing from her life to begin with. She feels a surge of _something_ when she looks at her…something wonderful and terrifying. She nearly laughs when she realizes what it is. 

It’s so obvious. 

How else could she feel about the woman who cancelled a much-anticipated trip to Vancouver with her girlfriends so she could take part in a 10k with her? Why else would she allow herself to be pushed and motivated by Sharon when she preferred self-sufficiency? Why else would she be thankful that Fritz had left her in the end? 

It’s so clear to her now. 

She laughs, the giddy rush of it bubbling from her mouth with breathless joy. 

“What’s funny?” Sharon asks, exhaling steadily through her mouth as she gently furrows her brow in Brenda’s direction. Her ponytail bounces behind her, the sun glinting across golden highlights. 

Brenda smiles coyly, her chest tightening with warmth. “You don’t wanna know.” 

“I’m sure I do.” 

The blonde adds a little skip to her run, putting her a few paces ahead of Sharon. She turns around so that she’s running backwards with little finesse, not wanting to disrupt their stride. “It just came to me…I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before.” 

The older woman quirks an eyebrow, the back of her hand coming up to dab at the sweat on her brow. “Realize _what_?” 

“That…” Brenda laughs again, her smile so wide that it stretches her cheeks into impossible shapes. “I’m fallin’ in love with you.” She waits for Sharon’s reaction and feels as though she could do a backflip when the captain smiles knowingly. “You knew, didn’t you?” 

Sharon shrugs, still grinning. “You’re not a woman to be rushed. I knew it would come to you sooner or later.” 

“Always gotta know everythin’!” 

“About you, of course.” 

And she does, Brenda realizes. Sharon knows her better than anyone. She knows that Brenda likes honey in her coffee and a Hershey kiss with her breakfast. She knows that Brenda has been shaken by her father’s cancer and needs someone by her side. She knows when Brenda’s sad and when she needs to be pushed and when she needs to be left alone. If there were a Brenda Leigh Johnson Operational Manual, Sharon Raydor would be its author. It makes perfect sense that Sharon knows her heart better than she does. 

She turns around then, afraid that she will trip over her own feet and remind Sharon just why she should come to her senses. With a burst of exuberant energy, she sprints ahead, letting the wind rush over her. She knows without having to look that Sharon has caught up with her and is matching her stride. They are running toward something wonderful—Brenda just _knows_ it. It’s scary and exciting and as much as Brenda wants to hurry and reach the finish line, she’d much rather immerse herself completely in these moments with Sharon as they happen. She’s never been a patient woman, but right now she never wants these moments to end. 

\---


End file.
